Red and Black Hockey

Entries with the tag: jamie mcbain

On Wednesday night, the Hurricanes got a two huge standings points, and one of their few lopsided victories on the season. Rookie forward Jeff Skinner and rookie defenseman Jamie McBain each chipped in two goals to lead the way in a 6-2 pounding of the visiting Canadiens. Joni Pitkanen and Cory Stillman also scored for the Canes.

Meanwhile, at the HSBC Arena, the Sabres got a 1-0 shutout over the Rangers. This means that Carolina is still three points behind the Sabres (and now also three points behind the Rangers) with just five games to play. The Sabres have a slightly tougher road to hoe down the stretch, but the Canes can only concern themselves with their own games. The most important of the five remaining games is the home game against the Sabres on Sunday.

On Friday night, the Hurricanes visited the Capitals for the fifth of six meetings between the teams. The Caps won 2-1 to make their record against the Canes this season a perfect 5-0.

I didn’t get to see the game because I was partaking in some rock and roll fun. Something went awry with my DVR, so I didn’t get that either. I got the second period of the radio broadcast and I saw the highlights, but nothing else. It was a goaltending duel between Cam Ward and the Capitals’ flavour of the month Braden Holtby with the latter getting the upper hand.

After a scoreless first period, Tuomo Ruutu scored late in the second to send the Hurricanes to the room with a 1-0 lead. Until this game, Carolina was 21-0 when leading at the second intermission. Unfortunately, Alex Ovechkin scored in the first minute of the third, then Matt Hendricks scored the eventual game-winner.

Carolina was victimized by an unfortunate blown (pun intended) call by referee Chris Lee. However, the blown call had nothing to do with the fact that Carolina didn’t outscore the Capitals.

On Thursday night at the RBC Center, the Hurricanes and Sabres played a playoff-style game that had huge implications for both squads. The Sabres twice had a one-goal lead in the second period, but each time, the Canes answered back. The game was knotted at two after 60 minutes, and it took a scant 26 seconds of overtime for the Canes to win it 3-2.

Rookie defenseman Jamie McBain tallied the game winner with a blast from the right point with a screen from Eric Staal in front of the goal. Ryan Miller never saw it. It was McBain’s fifth goal of the season and his second career overtime game-winner.

It was a sweet win for the home team, and to make matters even better, the Rangers lost in regulation. This means that Carolina has 71 points and the Rangers 70. Carolina is now in seventh place and still holds a game in hand against the eighth place Rangers. The Canes would have preferred to have gotten this thing done in regulation to create some space between themselves and Buffalo, but the most important thing is that they got the two points.

Like most of the eastern United States, Raleigh was hit with a snowstorm on Christmas Day. The Hurricanes canceled a season ticket holder event. The game for tonight—against the Capitals, is on. Maybe.
The Hurricanes are ready to go. The Capitals are in town and ready to go. According to twitter feeds, they’re still waiting on the referees to show up. And that could be tricky. Hundreds of flights have been delayed in New York, Washington, Baltimore, etc. I read earlier today that Delta was canceling more than 500 flights and US Air was canceling more than 300. Between the delays, the cancellations, the last minute changes, and the frustration of travel during the holiday, it could spell trouble.

For now, the plan is to play the game. No word on the arrival of the officials.

Whenever the game is played, Carolina will have a slightly different look.

On Monday night, the Albany River Rats completed their clean sweep of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Baby Penguins with a 5-3 win on the road. The four game sweep puts them through to the Eastern Division final where they will meet the winner of the Bridgeport (Islanders) v Hershey (Capitals) series. The Hershey Bears lead that series 3-1, and game five will be Wednesday night.

The hero of game four was defenseman Jamie McBain, who scored two goals including an empty netter. He’s got four goals in four playoff games, which is best among AHL defensemen. Zach Boychuk scored his first, which turned out to be the game-winner. Oscar Osala and Jerome Samson also added tallies for the Rats.

The Rats will have several days off before the next round begins, and they’ll need to work on their power play. They’ve had 20 power play opportunities and have yet to cash in. This is definitely going to have to change.

Rookie defenseman Jamie McBain wasn’t expected to play on the Hurricanes this season. The Canes dismantled their blueline, then suffered a second bout of injuries, and this has bumped him not only up to the big team, but to the top pairing. Three games in, he’s doing a brilliant job of adjusting. All he’s done is put up four points in three games, including an assist on the game-winning goal on Thursday, and a buzzer-beating game-winning goal last night.

The 22-year old was the Hurricanes first selection in the 2006 Entry Draft. They didn’t have a first round selection, and took McBain in the second round with the 63rd overall selection. The product of the US National Developmental program spent three seasons with the University of Wisconsin before signing an entry level contract last spring. In the 2008-09 season, he led the Badgers with 37 (7/30) points, was the Western Collegiate Hockey Association player of the year, and was a Hobey Baker finalist.